Current:Home > Markets'Magnificent': Japan gifts more cherry trees to Washington as token of enduring friendship -Core Financial Strategies
'Magnificent': Japan gifts more cherry trees to Washington as token of enduring friendship
View
Date:2025-04-12 16:48:18
Japan plans to help adorn Washington, D.C., with even more of the capital's famed cherry blossoms, a gift the Asian nation said will continue to serve as a token of an enduring friendship.
President Joe Biden confirmed news of the 250 new trees on Wednesday after welcoming Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife Yuko Kishida back to the White House.
“Like our friendship … these trees are timeless, inspiring and thriving,” Biden said at the ceremony. The gesture is meant to commemorate the United States' 250th birthday in July 2026.
Prime Minister Kishida is in town for a visit and state dinner, and to “celebrate the deep and historic ties” between the two countries.
Here’s what we know.
Bond will continue to grow, just like cherry blossoms
Prime Minister Kishida said he decided to send over the trees as soon as he heard that some of the existing trees at the Tidal Basin would be replaced as a result of a multi-year rehab project by the National Park Service.
The trees also were sent to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, he said.
“It is said that the cherry trees planted in this area have a lifespan of about 60 years ... (yet) the trees have shown their strong vitality, blooming beautifully for more than a 100 years without wane,” Kishida said.
It's a sentiment he is confident can be applied to the Japan-U.S. alliance, saying that it will continue to “grow and bloom around the world, thriving on friendship, respect and trust of the people of both countries."
Cherry blossoms connect both countries, first gifted over a century ago
The White House says they welcome the gesture, one that is set to support the rehab project for Tidal Basin and West Potomac Park.
“It’s spring in Washington. The sun is shining. And every spring, cherry blossoms bloom across this city thanks to a gift from Japan of 3,000 cherry trees from over a century ago,” Biden said. “People travel all over our country and the world to see these magnificent blossoms.”
The cherry trees, Biden says, were first gifted by Japan in 1912, are “an enduring reminder of the close bonds of friendship between Americans and Japanese,” according to The White House. It's estimated that the trees draw about 1.5 million visitors to the D.C. area every year.
Biden said that he and First Lady Jill Biden and the Kishidas "took a stroll down the driveway, across the lawn here at The White House to visit three cherry blossom trees.
"One that Jill and Mrs. Kishida planted together a year ago and the other two are part of the 250 new trees that Japan is giving to the United States," he said.
The new trees are set to be planted at the Tidal Basin not far from the Martin Luther King memorial, Biden said.
“May God bless the Japanese and American people,” he said.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- 1 officer killed, 1 hurt in shooting at airport parking garage in Philadelphia
- Federal, local officials agree on $450 million deal to clean up Milwaukee waterways
- Coast Guard rescues 2 after yacht sinks off South Carolina
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Jax Taylor Shares SUR-prising Update on His Relationship With Lisa Vanderpump
- 12-year-old's 'decomposing' body found in Milwaukee home, homicide investigation underway
- Lack of water worsens misery in besieged Gaza as Israeli airstrikes continue
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- Nobel Prize-winning poet Louise Glück dies at 80
Ranking
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- When it comes to heating the planet, the fluid in your AC is thousands of times worse than CO2
- Judge denies bid to prohibit US border officials from turning back asylum-seekers at land crossings
- Michelle Williams to Narrate Britney Spears' Upcoming Memoir The Woman in Me
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- Louisiana considers creating hunting season for once-endangered black bears
- Hamas 'Day of Rage' protests break out in Middle East and beyond
- Hospitals in Gaza are in a dire situation and running out of supplies, say workers
Recommendation
Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
Aaron Carter's Final Resting Place Revealed by His Twin Sister Angel
AP Election Brief | What to expect in Louisiana’s statewide primaries
Netflix plans to open brick and mortar locations
Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
5 Things podcast: Scalise withdraws, IDF calls for evacuation of Gaza City
'Feels like a hoax': Purported Bigfoot video from Colorado attracts skeptics, believers
As debate rages on campus, Harvard's Palestinian, Jewish students paralyzed by fear